CCRC to conduct study of cancer, lifestyle diseases in Kalamassery municipality

The initiative will cover 80,000 persons; ASHA workers being trained to collect data

January 18, 2018 08:21 am | Updated January 19, 2018 09:19 pm IST -

The Cochin Cancer Research Centre (CCRC) will soon begin a pilot study of lifestyle diseases in Kalamassery municipality.

The study will be an elaborate one, covering a number of aspects of the people’s lifestyles in the area, their dietary habits, disease trends, the quality of water people have access to and a number of other factors, making the questionnaire nearly seven pages long.

Since the workforce associated with the CCRC is small, the centre would be training doctors associated with the Community Health Centres and house surgeons at the Government Medical College, Ernakulam, to help with the study.

The training of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers, who will do the major work of collecting the data, has already begun.

The pilot study would cover 80,000 persons in the municipality, consisting of 26,000 families.

The success of the pilot study would help the CCRC to take it up as a project in other parts of the district, District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirullah, who is also the special officer of the institute, told The Hindu .

P. G. Balagopal, Superintendent of the CCRC, said that the study would also give the team an idea about the practical difficulties involved in collecting such a huge amount of data.

The questionnaire would be comprehensive and would cover not just cancer but other diseases too.

Besides the occurrence of cancer in family, the questionnaire would gather data on thyroid diseases, kidney disorders, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and the blood parameters with regard to cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension. Women’s diseases and data related to the use of tobacco would also be collected. The CCRC would be expanding the activities at the OP wing too. Equipment such as mammogram and other facilities for early cancer detection are expected to be in place in a month, providing cost-effective methods of cancer screening.

The Speech and Swallowing Rehabilitation Clinic, the first of a kind in the public sector, will also begin in a couple of months. It was earlier planned to open it this month. The delay is in getting quality equipment, said Mr. Safirullah.

Work on building

The ₹395-crore modified project report would be screened by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) at a meeting later this month.

Green nod

The environmental clearance certificate, a pre-requisite for KIIFB sanctioning funds, was obtained recently.

According to Mr. Safirullah, once the KIIFB sanctioned the fund, it would take about a week to float the tenders and work on building the CCRC infrastructure would begin by March.

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